Honeycomb Reef - built by Honeycomb Reef worms (Sabellaria alveolata) along the intertidal zone. Once the tide comes in they emerge from their burrows to feed on plankton that drifts by.
County Clare, Ireland.
Posts by Ciarán McLaverty
Plans to protect 'treasure trove' of marine life
The waters around Sark host a range of habitats including eelgrass beds, reefs, seabirds, and marine mammals. The proposed MPA would strengthen measures on trawling within inshore waters.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
🌊New paper🐚 Seabed status varied strongly across Europe: the Black, Baltic, and Aegean–Levantine Seas generally showed high seabed community status, while the Western, Central, Ionian and Adriatic Mediterranean were most severely impacted by bottom trawling.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Opportunities for Master of Science by Research (MScRes) study at the School of Ocean Sciences at Bangor University 1 Introduction 2 MScRes in Ocean Sciences 3 Benthic Ecology 3 Impact of future sea bottom heatwaves on benthic organisms 3 Reproduction in shallow water Antarctic marine invertebrates 4 Investigating reproductive trait variability in Arctic benthic marine invertebrates 4 Reproduction in an Antarctic ascidian 5 Marine underwater monitoring in the 21st century 5 Quantifying the role of natural and anthropogenic light and sound on temperate marine ecosystems 6 Oceanography 7 How do met-ocean conditions influence rogue wave probabilities? 7 High latitude tidal energy resource 7 HOOFBEATS (HOtspots OF BEnthic productivity Arising from Tidal modulation of light in the Shallow sub-tidal zone): the return of the ‘optical depth of the bed’. 8 Impacts of climate change on estuary water quality 9 Marine Ecology 10 What Determines Seafloor Recovery? Identifying Drivers of Benthic Community Regeneration 10 Ecology of intraspecific trait variation: Role of body size in modulating density-dependent survival in a marine barnacle 11 Seagrass–Infauna Interactions: Biodiversity Effects on Ecosystem Function and Restoration Success 12
Opportunities for Master of Science by Research (MScRes) study at the @sosbangor.bsky.social at Bangor University.
Get in touch and I can send you the full descriptions.
📢New paper!
🐟📚Using fish stomach contents spanning over a century, we reveal long-term diet shifts (from larger bivalves to smaller opportunistic prey) in demersal fish species in the western North Sea.
🔗 Open access in Fish & Fisheries: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....
Here’s what would happen if we replaced all the protein humans get from fishing with land-based farming for meat.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
🧪🦑🌎🐠
📢 Paper Alert
Impacts of #offshore #wind on ecosystems and marine biodiversity 🌊⚡ 🌬️
Our latest publication from the #SamSkag project is out. It is a systematic review and meta-analysis (2003–2024) on the ecological impacts of offshore wind farms.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
PhD opportunity! "Benefits & impacts of use of light in UK #fisheries & their wider effect on the marine environment" (aka #scallopdiscos!) Supervision by me @thembauk.bsky.social Tom Davies @plymbiomarsci.bsky.social Tim Smyth @pml.ac.uk @fishtekmarine.bsky.social www.plymouth.ac.uk/study/resear...
Webinar alert!
Join us for a project introduction, some early findings & find out how you can get involved.
When: Fri 5th Dec, 10am (GMT)
Where: Online (Teams)
Schedule: 20-30 minute presentation + Q&A
Interested? DM for a link to join!
🦑 🧵 A fascinating find at the Ythan Estuary! Last night a friend contacted me with videos of large cephalopod appendages found here in Newburgh, today I went to go and take a closer look.
#cephalopod #marinelife #marinebiology #beachfinds #ythanestuary #scotland #scicomm
🌊 🤿
... just look at these 👀 Just a handful of the incredible new #PhD opportunities at the lab.
Visit our website to see them all, and apply!
🔗 pml.ac.uk/Working-with...
#PhDs #PhDopportunities #hiring #Plymouth #PhDlife
What can we learn from a stranded whale? 🐋🧪
This female fin whale stranded in Cornwall and sadly didn't survive. Since then, she has been buried in a @cornwall.exeter.ac.uk research field, until now...
@exetermarine.bsky.social @uniexecec.bsky.social
Learn more: news.exeter.ac.uk/environment-...
New study warning of the decline in taxonomic skills and what it means for conservation and management.
"Taxonomy is a foundation of marine science, and it is in trouble"
authors.elsevier.com/a/1lsTbEs4JV...
Dear OPI community! We’re thrilled to announce that the Call for Abstracts and ECR Funding Award submissions are now open for the OPI XI Conference, hosted by the University of Victoria on beautiful Vancouver Island, Canada 🇨🇦, 15–19 June 2026!
tinyurl.com/3cjhzf4h
#marineecology #conference
📣Opportunity to join the Convex Seascape Survey as Postdoctoral Research Associate 🧪
▶️Collate and map data on seabed disturbing impacts from offshore industry. Analyses will aim to estimate effects of disturbance on organic carbon stored within seabed sediments.
jobs.exeter.ac.uk/hrpr_webrecr...
New research from Queens University shows the critically endangered flapper skate continues its slide to extinction. The lead author, Patrick Collins, told me that it's not too late but decisive action is needed.
www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/ou...
Fresh off the press! Our perspective in @natrevbiodiv.nature.com discusses the wealth of information on biodiversity contained in historical sources, and its integration for long-term ecological knowledge and biodiversity conservation. A thread on the paper and what led to it:
rdcu.be/eEcIt
The #ConvexSeascapeSurvey is in Canada! A collaboration between @ulaval.ca @exetermarine.bsky.social and @unisouthampton.bsky.social is investigating the role of animals that live in mud on the #seafloor in helping bury #BlueCarbon and keep our #climate healthy.
This verified report of two sturgeon in Irish waters is pretty incredible considering the species is critically endangered & considered functionally extinct in Ireland due to no evidence of breeding. share.google/jyn5MHKpQHjT...
Sustainable seafood guide🐟 🦑🦞🐚: 1883 edition
"Crack on - herring🐟 stocks cannot be impacted by human activity"
(They collapsed in the ~mid 20th century)
Thankfully, we now have robust science-based management @icesmarine.bsky.social
@projectfishistory.bsky.social @oceanspast.bsky.social
We're meeting today to kick off our new NERC-funded project on the 'Impacts of bottom trawling on seabed carbon storage'. It's a consortium project to establish how the disturbance associated with bottom trawling modifies C storage, cycling and air/sea CO2 fluxes.
gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref...
NEW in @science.org Global tracking #MarineMegafauna shows <8% of areas used overlap w/ existing MPAs, while >75% of important areas overlapped by threats like #fishing #shipping & ocean warming - 30x30 goal will be insufficient for their conservation www.megamove.org @thembauk.bsky.social
For West Cork locals and lovers: A mussel farm, which would bottom-dredge a massive 23 hectares within the precious Kinsale harbour, has been granted a licence. Meeting this Sunday to organise appeals.
Great talk by @ciaranmc.bsky.social at #OOSC about his ongoing Convex Seascape Survey work on mapping the expansion of trawling and associated sediment disturbance 🌊🌊 @exetermarine.bsky.social @ruththurstan.bsky.social @profcallum.bsky.social
Fantastic talk by @ciaranmc.bsky.social on the big stage at #OOSC! Showcasing his ongoing Convex Seascape Survey research mapping historical trawling expansion and associated seabed disturbance @exetermarine.bsky.social @profcallum.bsky.social
The One Ocean Science Congress (#OOSC) begins in just two days! If you are unable to attend in person but would like to follow some of the discussions, all plenary sessions will be live-streamed.
On day 1: Opening session, 3 June 09:00-10:00 CEST: youtube.com/live/XOSGl7P...
#ScienceForTheOcean 🌊
What is an ecologically or biologically significant area?
How do we prioritise one seagrass bed over another, or a seagrass bed over a seamount?
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
My first paper is out! 🥳🐠🐟